Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What is a recoil headache?

An afternoon of 458WM and 500NE will give me a headache into the evening, needing paracetamol before bedtime. Shoulder is fine.

Gough Thomas wrote that the nitrites and nitrates in the fumes of nitro powder are vasodilators that can cause gun headaches, "especially in individuals not habituated to them."

As a kid of 10 or 11 I had one of those in the english stocked - no pad - ul 20 gauge models.

Kicked like a damn mule.

How far off the lands are you seating them?

(Thanks for the info)

I think you mean nitrogen oxides (and dioxide) - these are gaseous and termed NOXs. Nitrates and nitrites are not gaseous.

NOXs can inflame and damage the respiratory system over time - I don't believe they cause headaches or are present in signifcant quantities in burnt powder. I'm aware of lead causing more issues in poorly ventilated indoor ranges rather than NOXs.

I have a headache after shooting my 300 Weatherby several times.

I haven't shot anything bigger than a 308 in years. My main deer rifle is a 257 Roberts, followed by a 30-30 Marlin.

I did recently buy a new big bore, a 350 legend.

This is an interesting thread. I wear in-ear foam plugs and over ear muffs when shooting today. However, when younger, we didn't wear anything when hunting. Days in the field dove hunting were when I noticed it. I have found that after a day of that, I would come away with a headache, irritable and generally feel like I was in a fog. My ears felt like they had pressure on them. Sleep was the only thing that seem to help with it going away.

I still feel it today when at the range sitting beside someone that has a muzzle brake beside me. The concussion wears me down quick. Dividers between benches do not seem to mitigate it. From what I understand, your head takes the concussion even with ear protection on. It's just the way it is. I'd be curious to know if it's still felt after being behind a supressed rifle.

I have given up shooting slugs weighing more than an ounce in a fixed breech shotgun. You might find Brenneke K O one oz. a lot more comfortable and just as deadly.

I have a Shiloh Sharps #3 that weighs 12 lbs and has a shotgun buttplate. Loaded with 83gr 1.5 Fg and a 485 gr PPB about 10 rounds off the bench is all I can stand before getting head achy. Same with a 44-90 C Sharps built with the express type stock (straight and pistol grip). Its not the recoil so much I think...its the blast.

Never will understand how soldiers could endure the blasts of heavy artillery.

I wear plugs molded by my Audiologist buddy who also shoot a lot.

3-4 rounds of skeet w/12 or 20Ga doesn't seem to bother me at all.

50 rounds of 243AI shooting 105's from a 16# rifle/scope for an F-Class club match and I've got a headache. Same for 13# 308 shooting 155's. My shoulder doesn't really bother, just a headache. Neither rifle has a brake, nor do any of my hunting rifles, 1 Interarms 375 H&H that I never shoot and a few AR's w/flash-hiders is about it for brakes. Almost all of my rifles have 20"+ bbls.

Prone shooting gives me a headache much much quicker than shooting off of a bench or standing/off-hand.

I don't have any diagnosed neck/back (or any other joint) problems beyond being a few months shy of 50 and overweight.

OK, we can eliminate nitrate fumes from "recoil headaches" easily...next time you anticipate shooting the firearm that induces the headache...drink a generous amount of vitamin C in the form of orange juice, grapefruit juice etc...before, during and after the shooting session. Miners that suffer from dynamite headaches (and ammonium nitrate too) usually have 3 or more of those little juice cans in their gut bucket.
No headache? It was the nitro fumes. Headache? it was the recoil.

How about my thought experiment mentioned earlier: If it were fumes, why would a 243 not bring on the headaches while a 308 would given they burn about the same amount of powder?

We can also probably eliminate nitrate fumes from Eileen's recoil headaches, because they always start to after shooting maybe 2-3 shots outdoors--with the rifle's muzzle pointed away from her, naturally.

Now that is interesting.

For me, it's anything more than, say, a .308 shooting a 165 at about 2700fps with a rifle weighing about 7 lbs. More than that and I have a headache after about 5 rounds.

Someone in Oz read Gough Thomas' book, too.



https://www.claytarget.com.au/joomlatools-files/docman-files/CTSN/1990/1990_V43_12_Dec.pdf

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20378557

There certainly may be other contributing factors like the airborne nitrates theory, but what you're describing above is a textbook list of symptoms from minor TBIs.

I'll jump in and add my .02 cents: I'll be 88 next month and my big game rifles are mediums and a big bore. I handload for each and have for over forty years. I don't own a small bore except for a couple .22 LRs. Usually one goes with me to the range for practice of trigger control and a break from heavy recoil. I settle on hunting loads (handloads) for each BG rifle, practice a little with those loads and get away from the bench. And for my .458 Win I've settled on a reduced load for a relative light bullet - a 250gr MonoFlex (no lead) at 2700 fps that's very accurate and holds onto 94% of unfired weight in very tough test media. It's my bear load that makes 24 ft-lbs recoil (and the rifle has Mag-na-porting). I also sit up straight at the bench (no slouching) allowing my upper body to move with the recoil as in offhand shooting (which I also do in the woods of Gov. property). And I hold down on the fore end of the rifle to keep it from bouncing off the rest so it comes straight back.

Then, for all those rifles (.35 Whelen, 9.3 x 62, .375 H&H) I shoot full house handloads using magnum PAST shoulder protection, PLUS either a folded up terry-cloth towel OR (now) a 2" thick piece of dense rubber foam cushion (cut from a tree stand cushion) to fit over or under the PAST protector (Got that idea from Dr Ron Berry who shoots a lot of full house .458 Win Mag). In other words, I protect for the jolts to my shoulder that's connected to my whole body. Extra ear protection helps with the nervous system by telling it the recoil isn't that bad after all. Most of my life I've been shooting magnums and Big Bores and see no need to quit yet with proper management of recoil through: weight and fit of rifle, particular handloads for the game in question and getting off the bench when the rifle's ready to hunt. Once I have the load for a particular rifle, I'll test it for accuracy at the bench by shooting no more than about 8 to 10 rounds per session. And at this stage in my life, I try to keep all loads under 40 ft-lbs recoil if possible.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

My Savage 20 gauge bolt action slug rifle is very light and has a very nasty recoil even my 458 Lott kicks less , so if you want a headache try shooting my 20 gauge slug rifle its a 3 inch 260 grains of lead slug. Pete53